Georgia lets one adult adopt another, and the only consent the statute requires is the written consent of the adult being adopted.
What the Statute Says
OCGA 19-8-21(a) provides that “[a]dult individuals may be adopted on giving written consent to the adoption.” The petition is verified and filed in the superior court of the county where any petitioner or the adult to be adopted resides. It sets out the name, age, and residence of each petitioner and of the adult, the name the adult is to be known by, and that written consent.
There is no home study, no investigation, and no agency. The court “may assign the petition for adoption for hearing at any time,” and after examining each petitioner and the adult enters a decree “if satisfied that there is no reason why the adoption should not be granted.”
The petition must also state whether one or both of the adult’s parents will be replaced, and if only one, the decree must make clear which.
What the Decree Does
Afterward “the relation between each petitioner and the adopted adult shall be, as to their legal rights and liabilities, the same as the relation of a parent and adult child.” OCGA 19-8-19 also applies, so the decree terminates the adopted adult’s legal relationships with the former family: the adult “thereafter shall be a stranger to his or her former relatives for all purposes, including inheritance.”
It Does Not Reach Your Own Children
In Walls v. Walls, 278 Ga. 206 (2004), a father in a custody dispute had himself adopted as an adult by his biological mother, hoping to strip his adoptive parents of grandparent status and end their intervention in his divorce. The Georgia Supreme Court reversed. His adoption did not extinguish the legal status the grandparents already held as to his child.
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This post is a quick overview of the law and is not intended as legal advice. Please feel free to contact our office for a consultation if you have questions about this or any other legal aspects regarding your case!